Field of Invention
Aspects of this invention are related to medical device path planning, and more particularly are related to path planning for an articulatable multi-segment medical device.
Related Art
An endoscope is a medical device for visualizing the interior of a patient's body. Endoscopes have been used for a variety of medical diagnostic procedures and for a variety of medical interventional procedures.
Many different types of endoscopes are known. For example, one steerable endoscope has an elongated body with a steerable distal portion and an automatically controlled proximal portion. Such an endoscope is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,203 B2, entitled “Steerable Endoscope and Improved Method of Insertion,” of Amir Belson issued on Oct. 22, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In general, conventional medical device path-planning is performed using medical imaging data usually CAT, X-ray, MRI, PET of fluoroscopy imaging data. Path-planning is considered in U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,025, entitled “Virtual internal cavity inspection system,” issued Mar. 11, 1997; U.S. Pat. No. 7,167,180, entitled “Automatic path planning system and method,” issued Jan. 23, 2007; U.S. Pat. No. 6,380,958, entitled “Medical-technical System,” issued Apr. 30, 2002; U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2008/0091340 A1 (filed Dec. 26, 2004, disclosing “Targeted Marching”); and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2003/0109780 A1 (filed Jun. 6, 2002, disclosing “Methods and Apparatus for Surgical Planning”).